r/news • u/DuvalEaton • Oct 15 '14

Title Not From Article Another healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola in Dallas

http://www.wfla.com/story/26789184/second-texas-health-care-worker-tests-positive-for-ebola
11.1k Upvotes

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952

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

Someone from work said that it was mentioned on the news that the person in this new case lives at the same apartment complex as me. Just got a email and text from the complex confirming it. They said that the person is now offsite and that the apartment is going to be processed and cleaned. I'm still not terribly worried, but man, talk about hitting close to home.

163

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

[deleted]

82

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

Yeah. I left for work at about 6:15. At the time I only think I remember seeing one helicopter and 2 cops on the side of the road. Didn't figure out what it was all about till I got to work.

46

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14 edited Aug 02 '17

[deleted]

8

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

He keeps asking me if I feel sick and nervously fidgeting, so I wouldn't put it past him to do that.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14 edited Aug 02 '17

[deleted]

3

u/ecib Oct 15 '14

Realistically though, it's unlikely that she left any contagious "marks" in the apartment complex, outside of her own apartment.

Here ya go:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C) Footnote 52 Footnote 61. One study could not recover any Ebolavirus from experimentally contaminated surfaces (plastic, metal or glass) at room temperature Footnote 61. In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) Footnote 53. When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days Footnote 61. This information is based on experimental findings only and not based on observations in nature. This information is intended to be used to support local risk assessments in a laboratory setting.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Yeah I get that contaminated surfaces may be contaminated for days to come, but she was only symptomatic for a short while before quarantine, and in that time period I don't think it's likely that she left saliva, blood, or vomit on surfaces all around the apartment complex.

Certainly her own apartment, especially her bedding, is a concern. And to be safe the entire complex should be scrubbed (however they manage to do that I don't know), but there's probably not any Ebola hanging around outside her particular residence.

3

u/ecib Oct 15 '14

I'd agree the chances are slim, but nowhere near zero. She simply needs to sneeze near a door jamb.

Even then, it seems to be somewhat non-conclusive as to how long the virus in that state could remain viable in the environment.

1

u/Subliminal87 Oct 15 '14

If you're a nice person you wouldn't joke around with him and cough behind him and say "oh, sorry..."

2

u/hello_fruit Oct 15 '14

You should be a Simpsons' writer.

14

u/darthandroid420 Oct 15 '14

Its mutated! Now comunicable through HTML!

2

u/TheTigerMaster Oct 15 '14

It's that damn 4-chan guy up to his hacker antics again!

9

u/EyeFactUreMama Oct 15 '14

As I was leaving the Village this morning, I had no idea why I was hearing helicopters. Now it makes sense.

25

u/fatnerdyjesus Oct 15 '14

What the hell, is the Village some sort of Redditor Mecca?

6

u/Allegorithmic Oct 15 '14

Nah, those of us that live close are just coming out of the woodwork to comment.

1

u/scottyis_blunt Oct 15 '14

Yup, after hearing a few of my Kent friends text me about it...i started becoming very interested.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

I thought I heard the sound if a helicopter or two in the village at about half six!

3

u/12345potato Oct 15 '14

Now kiss (don't get ebola though)

1

u/mastx90 Oct 16 '14

I counted 4 helicopters around noon. Scary shit.

4

u/jMyles Oct 15 '14

Helicopters and police can kill ebola.

3

u/rush22 Oct 15 '14

They said it might go airborne--we can't take any chances here

3

u/flat5 Oct 15 '14

Ok, now I'm waiting for the big plot twist.

3

u/sanityreigns Oct 15 '14

Where is "The Village?"

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

[deleted]

1

u/sanityreigns Oct 15 '14

Oh, gotcha. Thought this was talking about the location in Akron that the person stayed. I've been to Akron but not Dallas.

1

u/_suited_up Oct 15 '14

San Li tun

3

u/zuten Oct 15 '14

Try not to use the communal washing machines just in case she did laundry over the weekend. Do you guys have washing machines in each unit or is it a large one everyone shares?

3

u/greenroom628 Oct 15 '14

So...did you guys call in sick?

2

u/Comet7777 Oct 15 '14

I had a feeling the Village area would get hit with this

2

u/SenorKerry Oct 15 '14

The Village - isn't that the post-dorm first job community?

2

u/TheRealMorph Oct 15 '14

Why were there helicopters?

1

u/justLittleJess Oct 15 '14

I assume for med - evacuation

2

u/justLittleJess Oct 15 '14

Or even news crews

2

u/andthentherewaskt Oct 15 '14

Ah, nothing like walking outside of your apartment to see red biohazard tape everywhere! And lucky you got woken up by helicopters and not by the police with an ebola flier.

2

u/GREGORIOtheLION Oct 15 '14

When I lived in the village, police helicopters were always flying over, looking for criminals on the run. I lived right by that mini-creek, though.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 16 '14

Dude, helicopters will blow the ebola all over the neighborhood. Those idiots!

1.2k

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Tagging you as "might have ebola".

1.1k

u/cheesegoat Oct 15 '14

Dude, you just commented right next to him. RIP.

621

u/heeehaaa Oct 15 '14

e-bola?

7

u/Gr1pp717 Oct 15 '14

Fuck.. what's next? iBola?

3

u/Higher_higher Oct 16 '14

I-Bola

By Apple.

7

u/Nonethewiserer Oct 15 '14

The name of Rengar's E? Bola Strike. Time to uninstall League of Legends.

2

u/RugbyAndBeer Oct 15 '14

My mom was right when she said I'd get a virus from Reddits.

2

u/Accujack Oct 15 '14

Nah, I'm sure it'd be marketed as iBola.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

iBola

Wait, no, that's a product for hipster gauchos.

1

u/dehgoh Oct 15 '14

Didn't the iSISSIES say they were attacking through Texas? Well, their fear campaign is seemingly working.

9

u/ILoveLamp9 Oct 15 '14

And you just commented next to him next to him. RIP.

6

u/buge Oct 15 '14

I hear you can catch it by sharing karma.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

yes e-bola is spread with direct contact with infected karma

4

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

And now I'm setting my laptop on fi

2

u/Bogdacutu Oct 15 '14

fortunately, he was able to click "save" just before the laptop burned completely

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

r.i.p in peace

4

u/belbie Oct 15 '14

In Peace.

8

u/DudeDude2020 Oct 15 '14

1 comment = 1 ebola

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Don't try ebola, not even just one.

2

u/666pool Oct 15 '14

It's ok, Obama has been on reddit. He'll come protect us.

1

u/fearyaks Oct 15 '14

I think the internets are infected now.

1

u/gologologolo Oct 15 '14

So did you.

1

u/Haaambone Oct 15 '14

Hey someone warn u/cheesegoat that he's probably got Ebola now too. I'm not doing it.

1

u/catsmustdie Oct 15 '14

Everyone in this thread.

Wait... fuck!!

1

u/DwarvenRedshirt Oct 15 '14

So did you Ebolacheesegoat. RIP. Fortunately, I wear gloves/goggles/n95 mask when replying to people here, so it ends at you. :p

1

u/Meleagros Oct 15 '14

And you just commented next to the dude that "might 'might'" have ebola, oh fuck now I commented next to you, I might might might might have ebola we're all fucked

1

u/grog23 Oct 15 '14

RIP in peace

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

RIP in peace /u/octanepenguin

1

u/KDLGates Oct 15 '14

Hey now, to date there is no evidence that the Ebola virus has evolved to be communicable through electron transmission.

To wit, here is a photograph of the Ebola virus which most assuredly has not in any way mutated to be infectious by the transmission of the light from your display into your retinas.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

You just commented next to the person who commented next to the person who lived in the same building as a person who came into contact with patient zero. RIP

1

u/Simon_and_Buttfunkle Oct 15 '14

KEVIN BACON WILL BE THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ALL OF US!

Worth it you cunning S.O.B..

1

u/Zomgsauceplz Oct 16 '14

You just commented next to the commenter......oh crap. This whole chain is infected!

2

u/GrammarBeImportant Oct 15 '14

I'm not taking chances, I tagged him as "Has Ebola"

2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

In two years after this Ebola craze passes you're gonna come across this tag and have a real good laugh. At least I hope that's how it goes

4

u/fiberpunk Oct 15 '14

I'm tagging him/her as "hopefully doesn't have ebola." I like to be optimistic.

1

u/flat5 Oct 15 '14

More than the CDC will do.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Tagging you as "tagging him".

-1

u/cynycal Oct 15 '14

Oh yeah.

-2

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14 edited Feb 07 '25

F reddit

35

u/JayDee_88 Oct 15 '14

Hey man, good luck.

63

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

[deleted]

4

u/kalitarios Oct 15 '14

Sorry boss, can't make it in today, ebola is actin' up again... you know how it goes...

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

German Goo Girl?

36

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

She visited family right before she started displaying symptoms in Akron. She started showing symptoms very soon after leaving.

Guess who lives next door to said family?

70

u/sanityreigns Oct 15 '14

Guess who lives next door to said family?

Their neighbors?

7

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Good guess!

2

u/sanityreigns Oct 15 '14

Where did her family live in Akron?

11

u/unprovenstatement Oct 15 '14

next to the neighbors.

16

u/Dark-tyranitar Oct 15 '14

tagging you as "might also have Ebola".

on a happier note, that prolapse will seem less annoying now.

2

u/wilstick Oct 15 '14 edited Oct 15 '14

[http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/health/texas-ebola-outbreak/index.html] "The worker had a temperature of 99.5 Fahrenheit before she boarded her flight" Who took her to the airport?

edit format issues

1

u/TooHappyFappy Oct 15 '14

Still has format issue. Do this: [text you want to display](link)

6

u/Ole_St_John Oct 15 '14

Holy shit! Please don't be the first redditor to get Ebola!

3

u/Molinkintov Oct 15 '14

Luckily, redditors stay inside all day. No need to worry

3

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

take care of yourself!

2

u/Duhaa Oct 15 '14

Sorry man for the sake of humanity we should just quarantine you guys off.

2

u/Kurtronic Oct 15 '14

Oh man, you're a goner.

2

u/neuHampster Oct 15 '14

Hey, hopefully you are alright. Good luck and everything. If you feel unwell, even a little, please immediately go to a doctor and don't touch anything. If they ask you to wait explain to them the situation and that any time spent not in isolation is a risk to everyone in the hospital. I'm talking if you get a bad headache or feel more tired than normal.

Be safe, good luck.

2

u/Naveronski Oct 16 '14

Aye, I had a lost reporter wandering around my part of the Corners. Maybe now our rent will stop raising lol.

2

u/lifeisask8park Oct 15 '14

Do you have separate or shared entrances? How are you NOT worried lol I'd be crapping my pants.

4

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

It is several different buildings. There were police already on the streets when I left for work early this morning and it seemed to be a unit relatively distant from the one I live in.

2

u/Sucid Oct 15 '14

The unit is in the far back of The Bend East. Just glad I'm at the front.

2

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

Same. I am by the office so I feel like I am somewhat removed from it.

8

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14 edited Feb 24 '15

[deleted]

3

u/zijital Oct 15 '14

Ebola isn't airborne & it can't be spread until a person starts showing symptoms.

So while someone like, say, a hospital worker who is in direct contact with someone with ebola is at high risk, everyone else is at a much lower risk, if not being at no risk at all.

Keep in mind that Thomas Eric Duncan went home for two days after he started showing symptoms (recap: at the time he could spread the virus), and yet none of the people who were in the apartment with him have shown signs of the disease.

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/qa.html

3

u/lifeisask8park Oct 15 '14

I agree with what you're a aying but it'd still be crazy to share a building with somebody infected.

And why does everybody keep quoting the WHO and the CDC, while at the same time making condensending remarks about how ignorant they are/were to this entire situation. Seems like a conflict of sources...

1

u/zijital Oct 15 '14

I wouldn't want to share a building or an airplane or whatever... with someone infected.

But if I shared a bus ride on Monday with someone who was infected & they started showing symptoms on Thursday, I'd be like "Wow, that was really close to home" and not "OMG we're all gonna die!!! Burn everything!!!"

Personally I, myself, haven't been criticizing the WHO or CDC, only everyone who is freaking out about the end of the world. And maybe the people who set / enforce the procedures at Texas Presbyterian Hospital.

2

u/lifeisask8park Oct 15 '14

The cdc comment wasn't directed towards you personally. . Just an observation. We say they're idiots and then we quote their website about how contagious it is etc

Lol

1

u/citizensnips134 Oct 15 '14

I live somewhere else in the village and I am freaking the fuck out.

1

u/Brighter_Tomorrow Oct 15 '14

That sucks... you're not going to get it though don't worry.

1

u/zijital Oct 15 '14

Glad you're not freaking out about it.

Seems like you know the facts on how ebola can and can't spread: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/qa.html

1

u/replus Oct 15 '14

I know that feel. Right around the time of the first in-country transmission to the first nurse, there was a local news report of a guy showing/developing "Ebola-like symptoms" while on a flight to... the airport about 15 minutes from where I live! Some 900 miles away from Dallas.

As soon as I heard of Ebola entering the US, and knowing full well how exponentially brutal this virus has been in Africa over the past five months, the doomsday theories couldn't help but dance across my mind. I had to chuckle that it had reached my city so quickly. I figured it'd be a number of months, not hours.

Thankfully, the guy was isolated and it was determined that he did not have Ebola. Unfortunately for the passengers of the flight, that meant a mandatory 2 or 3 hour quarantine on the plane after landing. The one way to make a flight even more boring...

1

u/dripdroponmytiptop Oct 15 '14

wash your hands, don't touch your face.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Wash your freaking hands and don't stop. Ever.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

I'm actually kind of worried. I have two flights to Cali SanAn in the next 2 weeks, and I've fallen for the "fear hype" that Ebola is around every corner now. Last thing I need to do is get sick and die after my life is finally on a good path.

1

u/i_drink_MrClean Oct 15 '14

"Processed and cleaned." Does that include turning the apartment into a massive bonfire?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Sucks man

1

u/Seanis Oct 15 '14

so did the CDC make a dramatic appearance in your apartment conplex?

1

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

I left before anything really started happening. At the time the police had just started arriving. I fully expect to have trouble getting home this afternoon though.

1

u/Seanis Oct 15 '14

that's tough man, ID should be enough to get in though after a few check ups from what i assume will be doctors stationed somewhere by your complex or in the building itself, stay safe man.

1

u/kalitarios Oct 15 '14

Only if the tips touch

1

u/javastripped Oct 15 '14

Did you hear the news that Ebola can now infect people over TCP and Internet comments?

1

u/warren31 Oct 15 '14

knock knock...

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

You seriously should get a spray bottle of bleach and start going over everything as you walk by.

1

u/AgAero Oct 15 '14

I hate that the people getting infected are healthcare workers in the Dallas area. My sister is a new nurse in the area. Luckily Dallas is huge, and she's unlikely to be asked to treat one of these patients.

1

u/Gbcue Oct 15 '14

Not worried?

No shared entrances? Shared laundry rooms? Shared mail areas? Pool (although the chlorine should kill it, mismanagement of maintenance may not)?

1

u/nitsuah Oct 15 '14

No, only entrance to my apartment is my own door. I have my own laundry appliances. As far as mail areas, the unit the patient is in has a different mail area than I do.

1

u/NotAnAI Oct 15 '14

So are you going to self quarantine for 21 days out of an abundance of caution?

1

u/ASK_IF_IM_PENGUIN Oct 15 '14

Uh... Stay in your house. Maybe at most get done medical support.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

RIP in peace.

1

u/binnygeo Oct 15 '14

reddit is compromised.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Make sure to hide your phone up your ass(or between your legs, use tape, carry tape with you) if they quarantine you or you get sick, so that you can provide the whole world updates about your situation via the internet.

Be careful friend.

1

u/hugitoutguys Oct 16 '14

My brother lives there too. It's upsetting.

1

u/willwhit87 Oct 16 '14

I drove by the apartments yesterday after work and saw at least 30 news vans and reporters everywhere right at Skillman and Lovers. I immediately knew what it was about even though I had no knowledge of the second nurse that contracted the disease. I also found out that someone that was on the same plane as her came to our manufacturing facility yesterday. Shit is hitting way too close to home.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '14

Hey. I need to kno if you died.

1

u/nitsuah Nov 14 '14

Yep, I died.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

Here's something even worse: the day before she first reported symptoms she was on a Frontier Air flight from Cleveland to Texas. So, any bets as to whether this shitbag was already symptomatic? What's the over/under on the chances that someone NOT in Dallas catches it thanks to this person?

If it turns out that they did infect someone else by traveling while symptomatic then there ought to be criminal charges brought against this person. As a healthcare professional who had just been treating someone with Ebola they should know better than to go jet-setting around the country until a few weeks have passed without symptoms.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

RemindMe! 30 days "Did he die?"

0

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14

You have Ebola.